She ordered a martini and encouraged me to, but said she couldn't drink it with her medication. She just liked seeing it in front of her, like the old days, all set to do its little magic.

In the same year Ford was chosen as winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story for outstanding achievement in that genre. Having enrolled to study hotel management he switched to English.

Richard Ford (born February 16 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer.